[opendtv] Re: OTA DTV experience
- From: "Nick Kocsis" <kocsis_nick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 18:10:56 -0500
<Dave Bittner wrote:> My comments below:
Your experience is somewhat similar to mine.
My 56" Samsung DLP has been in place for more than two years and is fed HD
via Expressvu Satellite which uses the identical receiver as used by the the
U.S. Dish Network.
On a recent trip to Cleveland OH during the Christmas/New Years holiday week
I stopped in at Circuit City in Erie PA to check to see if they stocked the
Samsung DTB H260F since no one in Canada has stocked it to date (to my
knowledge). The first young salesperson I approached had no clue as to
what the product was although I described it to him in minute detail as a
STB receiver for broadcast DTV. It appeared to me that he had no concept
of TV being received OTA except on satellite and cable. An older
salesperson came by and knew exactly what I wanted. It turns out they had
three in stock.
The $179 price was about right and the reviews that I had been reading were
sufficient inducement to give it a try (although I have resisted that urge
for the last 6 years based on the bad experience ot others with earlier
generation receivers).
I am located in line 20 to 40 miles from the Buffalo broadcast stations and
about 30 miles distant from the Toronto CN tower. My antenna is a fixed
high gain UHF yagi pointed in the general direction of the Buffalo
transmitters, mast mounted at 35ft above ground with an amplifier at the
base driving approximately 100ft of coax running from the mast to the TV set
in the house.
I have reliable reception of all seven Buffalo DTV OTA broadcasters
including 2-DT with some dropouts which I suspect is still operating on a
half power STA, but solid reception of 4-DT, 7-DT, 23-DT 29-DT, 43-DT,
49-DT. On the backside of the same antenna I receive a solid Toronto
5-DT. 9-DT is receivable but tends to break up on occasion. Toronto
57-DT coverage is not intended for reception beyond the Greater Toronto Area
(GTA) and is therefore not received.
I am a fan of NFL Football which I can now receive either on satellite or
OTA. While doing a comparison between the two sources during the NFL
playoffs I was struck immediately by the superior resolution, colour and
clarity of the OTA broadcast feed.
Since satellite does not provide local station coverage I now have the best
of both worlds. (Except that I do regret that we do not have DVB and
Freeview which I understand will offer HDTV soon). My next move is to
cancel the HD tier (most of which is not Hi-def anyways) on Expressvu since
OTA-HD reception satisfies all my HD viewing needs (including weekend NFL
Football, PGA Golf, and three feeds of PBS video).
I wonder how many others are out there in a similar situation but can't find
Samsung DTB-H260F in stock in their area (or live in an apartment next to
Mark Schubin).
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Bittner" <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 12:41 PM
Subject: [opendtv] OTA DTV experience
I recently installed a new Panasonic projector in my basement home
theater. Our main source for TV is DirecTV, with a DirecTivo serving the
home theater. I've been trying to decide which way to go for HD. I could
get HD from DirecTV, but the new DirecTV DVR doesn't have Tivo, costs $299
(not really a roadblock) and locks me in to DirecTV for a two year
contract. They're running Verizon Fios lines through my neighborhood, so
before I commit to DirecTV for another two years I want to see what Fios
has to offer. So I decided to go with OTA DTV as a temporary solution. I
live in Columbia, MD, midway between Washington and Baltimore.
I shopped around online and found a nearby Circuit City with the Samsung
DTB-H260F. None of the local Best Buys had it, and evidently this model
is in spotty supply. I bought a simple directional antenna for about
twenty five bucks. Came home, hooked it up to my system, set it to auto
tune. I'm getting reliable reception from Baltimore Channels 2, 11, 13,
45, and 54, and DC channel 5. Image quality is impressive on my 96"
screen. I'll probably play around with other antenna configurations to
see if I can pull in any of the other DC stations.
It would be nice to get ESPN and HBO in HD, but as a temporary solution
this OTA experiment was remarkably easy.
Dave Bittner - Pixel Workshop Inc.
www.pixelworkshop.com
410.381.8555
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